Turn your kitchen timer into a time-lapse video tool

The Hobie attaches to a kitchen timer for an inexpensive way to get time-lapse and 360-degree videos. Photo: Overlab Experimental Design

Photography equipment can be expensive, but there are plenty of items lying around the house that can help you get your shots. Why buy a pin-hole camera made of fine hardwood when you can make one out of an oatmeal container?

Designer Mattia Ciucciarelli wants to spare us the cost of an expensive tripod head for time-lapse and 360-degree videos with a device he calls the Hobie that attaches to the common kitchen timer.

Ciucciarelli’s Hobie is a circular, adjustable frame that houses any smartphone (use the time-lapse app of your choosing) and has attracted considerable backing on Kickstarter. With 25 days remaining, the Hobie has exceeded a funding goal of $15,000 by more than $10,000.

Ciucciarelli, the CEO of Overlab Experimental Design, based his design on fitting an IKEA kitchen timer that comes with the product. With timers coming in all shapes and sizes, a quick search on Google resulted in pictures of timers very similar to the one that comes with the Hobie, so should it break down, it should be easy to replace.

The Hobie frame sits on the rounded timer with a rotating head powered by a mechanical engine. The Kickstarter page shows a number of lovely 360-degree and time-lapse videos made with the device.

A backer can get in on a Hobie for a pledge of around $38 (24 British pounds). Other funding levels offer a clip-on fish-eye lens for smartphones. There are four colors, black, white, clear and blue.